What an amazing experience.
I figured while we are in the area, we should take a trip to one of the islands. Fiji, Samoa, and the Cooks Island were all great options but I figured we would not necessarily make a special trip from Chicago to go to the Kingdom of Tonga. After SORA seeing some of the luxuries of NZ, and Australia, it made sense to go somewhere more “basic,” more “down to earth” if you will – but somewhere blessed with so much nature, beauty, and warm hearted people.
We stayed in one of the “best” resorts there but still close to the town so we’d enjoy the cultural activities and seeing the locals. Our room roughly cost us a couple of hundred dollars a night which is plenty there. But I tell you, in America, you would be paying less than $50 for that room. On the bright side, all night long we heard the sound of wild waves…what a beauty.
And God created New Zealand – Heaven on Earth.
Some have told me to try Alaska. They say it is as beautiful.
I went to school in Geneva years ago before you were born. The mountains here are at least as amazing. The drive from Queenstown to Milford sound was fabulous. The mirror lake was just amazing (see the pictures). And the flight back in such a small plane was magnificent. Will never take that flight again.
When I first started spending time in NZ, I told Nami and SORA to travel there as much as they can because NZ and Australia are so far away that we would not go back to the region. Guess what? The more I saw there, the more I said we would come back.
I have been spending a lot of time down under lately. A quick trip to Sydney, Australia with SORA and Nami. Sydney has changed a lot since last time I was there. Impossible to make reservations at Tetsuya’s and Quay. Even for me!
I have only been to Sydney three times. First time managed to go to Tetsuya’s for both lunch and dinner (they made a different menu for me at night). Second time I went there three times in five nights I was there. This time zero. Instead enjoyed exploring different parts of Sydney and meeting new people. Somehow I had missed the alleys in my prior trips. Here are some pictures. Hope you enjoy them.
Tags: san francisco
Good to be back in San Francisco for a couple of weeks. Meeting associates and friends. Some ZYX, Tom Evans and one Musical Affairs /verdier set up. A gorgeous Amazon REFERENZ present as well.
Had dinner at the slanted door. Still a good restaurant. Going back to the Ferry Building to try a pork belly sandwich at a food stand. Long long lines. Need to arrive there early. Also had dinner at Baker and Banker. Can not say it was impressive.
Yesterday had lunch at El Toro Taqueria with an associate where I met the musician in this picture.
Tags: charity, japan, nami
I am proud of Nami and many of our musician friends across the globe for all their efforts to collect money for Japan. Pictures below you will see Nami at a concert to raise money for the victims of the Japanese tsunami and earthquakes.
SORAsound collected money from some auctions. We talked to Sora’s school to run some activities to generate funds for the Japanese red cross. SORAsound used the funds generated from our auctions to match what the school had collected dollar by dollar (we had used that as an encouragement for people to contribute). Nami also worked closely with the school.
Special thanks go to our friends and all those who bid on our auctions.
